Alexandra Eala didn't want to sugarcoat anything following a brutal 6-0 6-2 defeat to Coco Gauff, admitting that there was "still a gap" between her and the top players of women's tennis.
Earlier in the week, Eala made noise in her Dubai debut after clinching her third top-10 win by beating world No. 8 Jasmine Paolini in the second round. The 20-year-old also registered a notable round-of-16 win over Sorana Cirstea, who won Cluj-Napoca earlier this month.
After beating some well-known names and reaching the Dubai quarterfinal without a dropped set, Eala certainly didn't lack confidence going into her first meeting against Gauff. But as soon as the match started, it turned into a one-sided battle as the reigning French Open champion won the opening 10 games for a 6-0 4-0 lead before closing out the match with just two lost games.
When addressing her display, Eala simply admitted that she got completely outplayed by a better player.
Eala: There is still a gap in terms of level between me and Gauff, and other players of her calibre
“I think at the end of the day, yeah, I definitely could have performed better. But yeah, all things aside, at the end of the day, I think there’s still definitely a gap in terms of level between me and Coco and, you know, other players of her calibre. So, yeah, I think she did great, and my job is to try and close that gap, and I think I’m doing that quite well. So I’ll keep working on it, and hopefully next time we’ll be a bit tighter," the Filipina explained.
Eala may have lost to Gauff, but having three top-10 wins at 20 years old is certainly not a bad thing to have on your resume. Before beating Paolini in Dubai, Eala clinched her first two top-10 wins in Miami last year when she beat Iga Swiatek and Madison Keys.
Meanwhile, Eala is set to improve 15 ranking spots on Monday and enjoy a new career-high ranking of No. 32 in the world.
